WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Palm Beach Atlantic baseball fell for the first time in 2019 on Sunday, as they dropped a game 8-2 to Catawba College at J.M. "Jake" Rubin Park.  The Sailfish gave up two runs in the fourth and five in the fifth to pull away from the 'Fish and win the game.  The Sailfish and Indians both sit at 2-1 on the season after today's game.

Catawba got off to a quick start offensively, as Jackson Raper lined a single into centerfield to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.  Matt Leslie (Loss, 0-1) settled in nicely after that and held down the Catawba lineup for the next two innings as the 'Fish trailed 1-0 after three.

The Indians opened up the lead to 3-0 with two runs in the top of the fourth, but the Sailfish answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom half, as the 'Fish put two runners on with nobody out before Brandon Smith laid down a nice bunt, and Catawba made two throwing errors on the play to allow two Sailfish runs to score. 

Catawba opened up a big lead in the fifth inning with five runs on just three hits.  The Sailfish threatened to add more runs in the fifth as Sean Houck singled and Riley Herold reached via walk but Brandon Seltzer flew out to center to end the inning.

The Sailfish got scoreless relief appearances from Tyler Hawks, Eli Bottenfield, Christian Horner, Joey Hennessey, and Troy Klemm on Sunday to keep the score at 8-2 but the offense could not get anything going late in the game.

Brandon Seltzer had a multi-hit game for the Sailfish, as he went 2-for-4 and also scored a run.  Connor Rowland had an extra-base hit for the second consecutive day for the Sailfish and finished 1-for-3.

The Sailfish and Indians will be back at it tomorrow morning, as they will have an early 11 a.m. start to close out the opening week of games.